Skanda Purana — Brahma Khanda, Shloka 60
तस्य पूर्वकृतं पुण्यं भस्मीभवति नान्यथा । अन्येषां दीयते दानं स्वल्पं वा यदि वा बहु
tasya pūrvakṛtaṃ puṇyaṃ bhasmībhavati nānyathā | anyeṣāṃ dīyate dānaṃ svalpaṃ vā yadi vā bahu
Вся прежняя заслуга, им накопленная, обращается в пепел — иначе не бывает. И какую бы милостыню он ни подал, малую или великую, она засчитывается как данная другим (не ему в заслугу).
Deductive attribution: a Purāṇic narrator/instructor within Dharmāraṇya Khaṇḍa (speaker not explicit in snippet)
Listener: nṛpasattama (best of kings)
Scene: Merit turning to ash: a symbolic fire consumes a ledger of past puṇya while the man offers gifts that drift away to ‘others,’ indicating phala-transfer or nullification.
FAQs
Merit is not merely accumulated by acts; it is preserved by dharmic integrity—otherwise even charity can become fruitless.
No sacred geography is mentioned; the verse is a general karmic principle.
Dāna (charity) is referenced, with the warning that its fruit depends on righteous alignment.